When I first got interested in weight training exercise, I

When I first got interested in weight training exercise, I thought it was out of health concerns. You see, I was very out of shape. I was not fat, but I was several pounds overweight. The main problem was that my muscles were weak and my endurance was low. I thought that my weight training exercises would compliment my health fitness workout. I intended to work out at the health club for 20 minutes, three times a week, and follow each workout with weight training routines. The cardiovascular would warm me up, and the weight training would strengthen the muscles. As an added bonus, doing weight training workouts helps to burn more calories. Soon, I would be lean and strong.

What I didn't realize at the time was that I was more interested in improving my body image than improving my health. I would watch the other men workout on the weight training equipment, and I would feel small and insecure. Even after six months, when my weight training exercise was clearly paying off, I could not stand to look at myself. I got to the point where I took what limited time I had and devoted it solely to weight training exercise. I would not warm up, I would not even stretch, and I would spend all my spare time lifting weights at the gym. I knew that it was dangerous, but I couldn't help myself. I needed to be bigger and stronger.

You would think that eventually, after enough weight training exercise, my body image obsession would gradually subside. If anything, however, the opposite happened. It seemed like the bigger that I got, the more weight training exercise I would do. I hired a personal trainer to help me with weight training exercise, but soon I fired him again. He was too concerned with the not pushing myself too hard, and wanted me to spend some time doing cardiovascular exercise and stretching.

I didn't need that. I needed to get big and bulky. The weight training exercise was the only thing that concerned me. If I had not torn a muscle and taken a few months to recuperate, I would still be locked in that cycle. If you're just getting started, you should learn from my mistakes. It is important to keep weight training fitness in perspective. It is only one part of a workout, and it is not the most important part.